Re-Reading: Magnus Robot Fighter #2
Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg
Re-Reading: Magnus Robot Fighter #2
I thought we could do a book a day (that way people can read one every day or catch up on weekends), talk about it on its own, in the context of whats next, in regards to what expectations it creates and vote on how good it is. I don't have to be the one that posts everyday. If I miss a day or if someone wants to take over please do
For voting think of your single favourite comic book (not just VALIANT) as the benchmark - thats a 10 - and grade according to that.
Make sure to mention what you like'd about the book, what you didn't, what you wish they would have done, your favourite panels, lines of dialogue, little bits of trivia etc.
Magnus Robot Fighter #2

For voting think of your single favourite comic book (not just VALIANT) as the benchmark - thats a 10 - and grade according to that.
Make sure to mention what you like'd about the book, what you didn't, what you wish they would have done, your favourite panels, lines of dialogue, little bits of trivia etc.
Magnus Robot Fighter #2

- Todd Luck
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Same incredble art and story.
The depiction of the war (it's build up last issue and execution this issue) is as relevant today as it was back 1991. Actually, with recent events, it feels even more relevant now than it did then. There was a wonderful realism to it: the guerilla war, crowded hospital beds, politicians holding a party a burning building in the background, ect
And the story manages to use Magnus as a human anchor in the middle of this epic conflict. I think this, more than any other issue, made him my favorite Shooter-era character. He just seemed so human. The fatigue, his moral questions, his attempts at peace, his girlfriend having a stupid spat with him, and, after all this, ultimately being labeled an outlaw at the end. "The perfect day," indeed, but through it all Magnus never wavers in his convictions and his efforts to save lives. That's a real hero.
And ofcourse Magnus is the biggest bad a$$ in comics. The fight between Magnus and a couple hundred robots was truely breathtaking.
Incredible stuff on every level.
A 10.
Continuity notes: Later, in Orstrander's run they'll make a really big deal when the weather station in North Am is destroyed acting like it's never happened before and that it causes cataclysmic effects for the whole world. It got destroyed at the beginning of this issue and everyone's fine. Oh, well.
Also we establish what gives a free will rob free will. Making it an energy matrix in their brain pretty much makes it impossible to copy or rebuild a free will's mind. All you would have is the same data but, without the energy matrix, they wouldn't be free will anymore. Of course, after Shooter leaves, we'll see 1-A recreated 3 seperate times, with free will intact. Kinda makes you wonder if anyone read these early issues.
Inside joke: Magnus lives in the Truimph building. Now that's Shooter just being nice to his business partners
The depiction of the war (it's build up last issue and execution this issue) is as relevant today as it was back 1991. Actually, with recent events, it feels even more relevant now than it did then. There was a wonderful realism to it: the guerilla war, crowded hospital beds, politicians holding a party a burning building in the background, ect
And the story manages to use Magnus as a human anchor in the middle of this epic conflict. I think this, more than any other issue, made him my favorite Shooter-era character. He just seemed so human. The fatigue, his moral questions, his attempts at peace, his girlfriend having a stupid spat with him, and, after all this, ultimately being labeled an outlaw at the end. "The perfect day," indeed, but through it all Magnus never wavers in his convictions and his efforts to save lives. That's a real hero.
And ofcourse Magnus is the biggest bad a$$ in comics. The fight between Magnus and a couple hundred robots was truely breathtaking.
Incredible stuff on every level.
A 10.
Continuity notes: Later, in Orstrander's run they'll make a really big deal when the weather station in North Am is destroyed acting like it's never happened before and that it causes cataclysmic effects for the whole world. It got destroyed at the beginning of this issue and everyone's fine. Oh, well.
Also we establish what gives a free will rob free will. Making it an energy matrix in their brain pretty much makes it impossible to copy or rebuild a free will's mind. All you would have is the same data but, without the energy matrix, they wouldn't be free will anymore. Of course, after Shooter leaves, we'll see 1-A recreated 3 seperate times, with free will intact. Kinda makes you wonder if anyone read these early issues.
Inside joke: Magnus lives in the Truimph building. Now that's Shooter just being nice to his business partners

Re: Re-Reading: Magnus Robot Fighter #2
If last issue started at full speed, they've managed to accelerate the story here. And every piece of action also helps tell us something about what it means to be alive or not.
One of my favorite panel ever is in this comic - "The flower magnifies it". Actually there's several really great moments, but this one moment contains so much of what builds the story. And the art is great. Magnus' expression is perfect and JJ really emphasises the moment.
This is an important comic.
/Magnus
One of my favorite panel ever is in this comic - "The flower magnifies it". Actually there's several really great moments, but this one moment contains so much of what builds the story. And the art is great. Magnus' expression is perfect and JJ really emphasises the moment.
This is an important comic.
/Magnus
- Daniel Jackson
- A toast to the return of Valiant!
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- jedimarley
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Seaborn's synopsis:
In North Am’s Erie waterworks, Magnus thwarts a rogue freewill plan to destroy the vital installation. But Magnus has been battling the freewill uprising round the clock, and a member of the sercurity forces escorts Magnus toward his home to rest. Flying over North Am, they see the smoldering evidence of the guerilla warfare carried out by the freewills.
Passing by Stark robotics lab, Magnus leaps from the hovercar onto the milespire. He pays a visit to robotics expert, Dr Giardino, to see if any explanation has been found for the freewill problem. Watching a captured freewill struggle and plead as it is dissected, Magnus feels that this study is morally wrong. But then, a freewill posing as a lab-rob answers his comrade’s pleas by killing the dissection victim. Cornered by the other lab-robs, the freewill takes its own life rather than be captured. Magnus is clearly disturbed by the freewill desire for self-determination.
Suddenly, a message arrives for Magnus. Leeja has recovered from her wounds and is scheduled to be released from the med-center. When Magnus arrives in Leeja’s hospital room, she telepathically senses the image of the attractive Teresa Giardino in Magnus’ thoughts, but she is fairly certain that Magnus is all hers.
Meanwhile, at a secret freewill base on the ground lev, 0-1X and his cohorts attempt to repair a freewill damaged by Magnus. But even the freewills do not understand what makes them self-aware. They make a mistake during the surgery, and the freewill suddenly reverts to being a normal robot. When the robot routinely attempts to subetherially contact Central-rob for instructions, the freewills know that their base has been compromised and they must move on. But one of the freewills noticed that certain microtremors in the patient ceased when it lost self-awareness. Furthermore, all of the freewills have this distinctive, almost imperceptible tremor. 0-1X realizes with fear that, if the humans know what to look for, they will be able to detect and destroy the millions of freewills secretly coexisting with North Am’s worker-rob population.
At a North Am restaurant, Magnus joins the Clanes in celebrating Leeja’s recovery. But Magnus cannot relax while the freewill problem continues. When Leeja psionically realizes that waiter-rob W23 is freewill, the security droids close in for the kill. But the other freewill waiter-rob sacrifices itself so that W23 can escape.
When Magnus returns home, he finds W23 waiting within. W23 senses that Magnus somehow sympathizes with the freewills and hopes for sanctuary with the Robot Fighter. But Magnus notices the microtremors in W23 and realizes that all freewills have this characteristic. W23 fears that it has given the Robot Fighter the key to freewill genocide, but Magnus is not so sure. W23 hopes that Magnus could be the key to a mutually satisfactory solution. Suddenly, Leeja arrives. Magnus has W23 hide and attempts to shield his thoughts of the robot from Leeja. But Leeja mistakes this as Magnus’ hiding another woman and she walks out angrilly. Magnus watches her go from the balcony. Suddenly, he is attacked by an overwhelming contingent of 0-1X’s freewills. The pitched battle moves from lev to lev until, at last, Magnus manages to grab 0-1X himself. But Magnus doesn’t kill him; he only wishes to talk rationally. Unfortunately, 0-1X feels the time for talk is past. With the battle going against them, the rogues flee.
When Timbuc, Senator Clane, and the security forces arrive, they inform Magnus that he’s under arrest for treason because he allowed 0-1X to escape.
In North Am’s Erie waterworks, Magnus thwarts a rogue freewill plan to destroy the vital installation. But Magnus has been battling the freewill uprising round the clock, and a member of the sercurity forces escorts Magnus toward his home to rest. Flying over North Am, they see the smoldering evidence of the guerilla warfare carried out by the freewills.
Passing by Stark robotics lab, Magnus leaps from the hovercar onto the milespire. He pays a visit to robotics expert, Dr Giardino, to see if any explanation has been found for the freewill problem. Watching a captured freewill struggle and plead as it is dissected, Magnus feels that this study is morally wrong. But then, a freewill posing as a lab-rob answers his comrade’s pleas by killing the dissection victim. Cornered by the other lab-robs, the freewill takes its own life rather than be captured. Magnus is clearly disturbed by the freewill desire for self-determination.
Suddenly, a message arrives for Magnus. Leeja has recovered from her wounds and is scheduled to be released from the med-center. When Magnus arrives in Leeja’s hospital room, she telepathically senses the image of the attractive Teresa Giardino in Magnus’ thoughts, but she is fairly certain that Magnus is all hers.
Meanwhile, at a secret freewill base on the ground lev, 0-1X and his cohorts attempt to repair a freewill damaged by Magnus. But even the freewills do not understand what makes them self-aware. They make a mistake during the surgery, and the freewill suddenly reverts to being a normal robot. When the robot routinely attempts to subetherially contact Central-rob for instructions, the freewills know that their base has been compromised and they must move on. But one of the freewills noticed that certain microtremors in the patient ceased when it lost self-awareness. Furthermore, all of the freewills have this distinctive, almost imperceptible tremor. 0-1X realizes with fear that, if the humans know what to look for, they will be able to detect and destroy the millions of freewills secretly coexisting with North Am’s worker-rob population.
At a North Am restaurant, Magnus joins the Clanes in celebrating Leeja’s recovery. But Magnus cannot relax while the freewill problem continues. When Leeja psionically realizes that waiter-rob W23 is freewill, the security droids close in for the kill. But the other freewill waiter-rob sacrifices itself so that W23 can escape.
When Magnus returns home, he finds W23 waiting within. W23 senses that Magnus somehow sympathizes with the freewills and hopes for sanctuary with the Robot Fighter. But Magnus notices the microtremors in W23 and realizes that all freewills have this characteristic. W23 fears that it has given the Robot Fighter the key to freewill genocide, but Magnus is not so sure. W23 hopes that Magnus could be the key to a mutually satisfactory solution. Suddenly, Leeja arrives. Magnus has W23 hide and attempts to shield his thoughts of the robot from Leeja. But Leeja mistakes this as Magnus’ hiding another woman and she walks out angrilly. Magnus watches her go from the balcony. Suddenly, he is attacked by an overwhelming contingent of 0-1X’s freewills. The pitched battle moves from lev to lev until, at last, Magnus manages to grab 0-1X himself. But Magnus doesn’t kill him; he only wishes to talk rationally. Unfortunately, 0-1X feels the time for talk is past. With the battle going against them, the rogues flee.
When Timbuc, Senator Clane, and the security forces arrive, they inform Magnus that he’s under arrest for treason because he allowed 0-1X to escape.